Sidney Bruhl is a celebrated writer of Broadway thrillers
who's suffering through a dry spell. After a string of
embarrassing flops, he's spending time in his comfortable
Westport, Conn., home with his nervously afflicted wife, Myra,
hoping to be touched with inspiration along the lines of that
which resulted in The Murder Game, Sidney's magnum opus.

To make Sidney's slump all the more painful, Clifford
Anderson, a student of one of Sidney's writing seminars, has
recently sent his mentor a copy of his first attempt at
playwrighting for Sidney's review and advice. The play,
Deathtrap, is a five character, two act thriller so perfect in
its construction that, as Sidney says, "A gifted director
couldn't even hurt it."

Using his penchant for plot, and out of his desperate desire
to once again be the toast of Broadway, Sidney, along with
Myra, cook up an almost unthinkable scheme: They'll lure the
would-be playwright to the Bruhl home, kill him, and market the
sure-fire script as Sidney's own.

But shortly after Clifford arrives, it's clear that things
are not what they seem! Indeed, even Helga Ten Dorp, a nosey
psychic from next door, and Porter Milgram, Sidney's observant
attorney, can only speculate where the line between truth and
deception lies.

Alternating intrigue with humor, and throwing in more than
one mind-reeling plot twist, Ira Levin's Deathtrap
is a classic suspense thriller.

The play within the play

Deathtrap is both the epitome of the classic
thriller, as well as a playful insider's poke at the genre.

"A thriller in two acts," says Sidney of his protege's
script at the opening curtain. "One set. Five characters. A
juicy murder in Act One, unexpected developments in Act Two.
Sound construction, good dialogue, laughs in the right places.
Highly commercial."

It's an apt description of the play the audience is about to
experience.Furthermore, as the narrative progresses, Levin
continues to toy with references to his own play, within the
context of Clifford's script of the same name.

But Levin -- nor Bruhl, for that matter! -- invented the
dramatic structure of the ideal thriller. Throughout the play,
Levin cleverly alludes to the collection of other memorable
thrillers to which Deathtrap belongs: Anthony Shaffer's
Sleuth, Dial "M" for Murder by Frederick Knott,
Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution, and
Angel Street by Patrick Hamilton, which Sidney credits
with infecting him with thrilleritis malignis at the age of 15,
the very same age at which Levin himself decided upon the
career of a writer.

When multiple sets and many players mean mounting production
costs, the advantages of a single set and limited cast are
obvious. Sleuth, the play to which Deathtrap is most
often compared, took that theory to the extreme: Shaffer
utilized a single set and only two actors to create one of the
biggest hits of the 1970s, opening on Broadway in November 1970
and running for more than 1,100 performances. Its slim
production costs, hardly at the expense of effective drama, are
certainly one key to the show's longevity. (Deathtrap,
however, would beat Sleuth at its own game, running for
nearly 1,800 shows later that decade.)

Perhaps Angel Street, the Broadway hit of the 1940s
starring Vincent Price, that Sidney cites as his early
inspiration, came the closest to Bruhl's description. Its three
principal characters, and two others providing subplots and
support (just like Levin's play), all interacting on a single
set probably isn't coincidence. (American audiences might know
Hamilton's play better for the 1944 film version, entitled
Gaslight

Playwright/Background

Ira Levin (b. Aug. 27, 1929, New York City) partly based the
role of Sidney, not surprisingly, on himself. A fan of riddles,
puzzles and detective stories at an early age, Levin decided on
the career of a writer at the age of 15. Educated at the elite
Horace Mann school, he went on to two years at Drake University
in Des Moines, Iowa, before transferring to New York University
where he majored in philosophy and English. He earned his
degree in 1950. In '53, he was drafted into the Army. Based in
Queens, New York, he wrote and produced training films for
Uncle Sam, before moving into television, penning scripts for
Lights Out and The United States Steel Hour.

He made his bright theater debut at the age of 25 with a
stage adaptation of Mac Hyman's No Time for Sergeants
(1955), and followed it up with the 1960 hit comedy Critic's
Choice starring Henry Fonda. Two later works, however, Dr.
Cook's Garden (1967) and Veronica's Room(1975), were less
successful.

When it came to Deathtrap, Levin thought he might sidestep
the risky nature of the stage altogether and turn his idea into
a novel. "But it somehow felt as if it just had to be a play,"
he told New York Newsdayon March 19, 1978. The play took him
six years to complete.

Not to say that Levin hasn't had great success with the
novel format. He is equally known for his novels, starting with
his award-winning A Kiss Before Dying, his first, which he
wrote at age 22. Rosemary's Baby, The Boys from Brazil, The
Stepford Wives and Sliver are more of his other well-known
books. All were made into films, though he has never taken the
adaptation assignment on himself, because he has "always felt
that it's better to go on to something else rather than rewrite
something that you've done already."

Original Broadway production

The original Broadway production of Deathtrap opened
Feb. 26, 1978, at the Music Box Theatre, 239 W. 45th St., and
ran for 1,793 performances over the course of five years.
Produced by Alfred de Liagre Jr. and Roger L. Stevens, it was
the longest running non-musical play of the '70s, and remains
Broadway's longest running mystery of all time.

Throughout the course of its long engagement --
Deathtrap is also the fourth-longest running non-musical
in Broadway history -- many men played the role of Sidney,
including: John Cullum, Farley Granger, Stacy Keach, Robert
Reed and John Wood. Marian Seldes, on the other hand, portrayed
Myra in every Broadway performance, giving her, at one time,
the Guinness Book of World Records title for most performances
in the same role.

The production received four Tony award nominations,
including: Victor Garber, best actor; Seldes, best actress;
Levin, best play; and Robert Moore, best director. (That year,
the Tony for best play went to Hugh Leonard's Da.)

The 1982 film of Deathtrap, directed by Sidney Lumet,
starred Michael Caine as Sidney, Christopher Reeve as Clifford
and Dyan Cannon as Myra

Fighting Bob: A
Love Story

Story and lyrics by John N. Schweitzer. Music by Taras
Nahirniak.

Directed by Patrick Fernan.Choreography by Katrina
Williams.

Robert M. La Follette comes to rollicking life, singing and
dancing his way through four decades of Wisconsin history in
this historically harmonious original production about the life
and times of La Follette and his wife, Belle Case La
Follette.

Bob La Follette was a man far ahead of his time, a leader
who took active stances against political corruption and big
business control of government. These markers of clean
government remain Wisconsin standards in its sesquicentennial
year.

Fighting Bob: A Love Story tells the story of this
remarkable native son's love for his family, his state, and his
nation, and his rise to power as Dane County D.A., U.S.
Representative, Wisconsin Governor, U.S. Senator, and
Presidential candidate. A founder of the Progressive Party and
the Progressive Magazine, Fighting Bob actively opposed
discrimination against women and minorities.

This world premiere was commissioned by the Madison Theatre
Guild, Madison's oldest community theater, founded in 1946. The
musical is presented with the generous support of the
Sesquicentennial Commission, the Wisconsin Arts Board, and the
Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission. Fighting Bob: A
Love Story promises to be a sesquicentennial event for the
entire family.